Red Sox top awards candidate shows how poorly 2026 season has gone

Red Sox top awards candidate shows how poorly 2026 season has gone originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

>The Boston Red Sox have been having one of the worst seasons of any team in Major League Baseball.

>They've gone 25-33 on the year heading into June, and even though they can still make the playoffs from this spot, it's been a brutal 2026 season so far.

>A good example of how bad the year's been can be seen thanks to their "top awards candidate," according to The Athletic's Tim Britton. This candidate is not who most fans would've hoped to see in this spot coming into the season.

Red Sox top awards candidate highlights how bad 2026 has been"Top awards candidate: Ceddanne Rafael, AL Gold Glove," Britton writes. "At the start of the season, the Red Sox were a popular pick to win the division and maybe even the pennant, with Roman Anthony a dark-horse MVP candidate, Garrett Crochet an obvious Cy Young frontrunner, and Alex Cora a reasonable choice to win Manager of the Year."

>With Rafaela being the most likely player to win an end-of-season honor, it shows just how bad things have gone in 2026 for the Red Sox.

>Roman Anthony is on the injured list and had a setback recently, and even before that, he wasn't performing nearly up to an MVP-level.

>MORE: Roman Anthony might’ve been overhyped for Red Sox

>Garrett Crochet is also on the injured list and also had a setback recently; he, too, wasn't performing well enough to earn legitimate Cy Young consideration before he landed on the IL.

>Alex Cora has long since been fired, and there's zero chance he wins the end-of-season award, and interim manager Chad Tracy isn't likely to win any award either.

>The 2026 season has undoubtedly been a disaster, and this "top awards candidate" for the Red Sox from Britton shows just how badly things have gone this season.

More MLB news:5 reasons to believe in Jordan Walker's breakout for Cardinals • >Tarik Skubal being traded by Tigers would help him in free agency • >Cubs’ cost to trade for Tarik Skubal from Tigers revealed by ex-MLB GM • >Yankees’ Ryan McMahon problem has a $25 million release solution • >Phillies extending Cristopher Sanchez to his $107 million deal was genius